Kate Redgate’s Guitar Pull’ puts spotlight on local musicians

Kate Redgate? Local hero, monster performer. A high-energy live act with a lifetime of road-weary tunes, passionately, soulfully delivered, music that kicks up a whole lotta emotional dust — and truth. A performer with a much lower public profile lately, as she’s struggled to balance a “real” ...

By J. C. Lockwood

MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA

By J. C. Lockwood

Posted May. 1, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 1, 2013 at 1:23 AM

By J. C. Lockwood

Posted May. 1, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 1, 2013 at 1:23 AM

NEWBURYPORT

» Social News

Kate Redgate? Local hero, monster performer. A high-energy live act with a lifetime of road-weary tunes, passionately, soulfully delivered, music that kicks up a whole lotta emotional dust — and truth. A performer with a much lower public profile lately, as she’s struggled to balance a “real” job, the kind with bennies like health insurance, to raise a family by herself, mostly, and have an outlet for a creative life, which, in the scheme of things, usually finishes in last place in the needs hierarchy, and is the first thing jettisoned when life gets tight.

And a lifer.

“We’re all lifers, “ says Redgate, referring to herself and the three fellow travelers who will join her May 4 at the Firehouse for a “guitar pull,” essentially a Singers in the Round deal — like “Storytellers,” the VH1 series. “We’re in for life, in music for life, for better or worse.”

She’s a lifer like Carl Cacho, the Amesbury singer-songwriter, who Redgate “dragged out of my self-imposed exile” to play in the Port pull, a performer who had been burning up Boston stages for years, who didn’t exactly chuck it, but set it aside to focus on family and a day-job as a social worker. Like Redgate, he’s had a lot of ups and downs over the better part of a decade, as he, too, juggled family and creativity, and has mostly not performed over the past five years. “It doesn’t seem that long,” he says, “it goes by in a flash.”

Not that Cacho, who made a name for himself regionally after releasing two critically acclaimed albums, including 2002’s “Spark,” his latest, feels less of a musician despite the dearth of paying gigs. “It’s easy to fall out of it,” he says. “But I’m just as happy. I find contentment and appreciation with family. I’m in it for life. I’m in music for life. Every day, I play music, just ask my kids, I’m always playing.”

Which is exactly the point,” says Redgate, who landed in the Port about a decade ago. “We’re talking about people who do music, who do great music, for little in the way of compensation, It’s not about getting an album recorded in Nashville, it’s not about getting famous. It’s about making art, making music. It’s a beautiful thing, that’s what it is.”

Also performing will be Port singer-songwriter Susan Levine, a finalist in the 2008 Kerrville Folk Festival new folk competition, and Rob Laurens, the guy Ellis Paul, a major presence on the folk music scene, calls “a great contemporary songwriter who demonstrates a clear knowledge, love, and respect for the tradition of the folk ballad within his art. In listening to his music, he manages to transport us back to ballads past, while holding our attention within a framework of contemporary sound.”

Page 2 of 3 - All veterans of the circuit, they are pals and have played together in various venues and configurations, over the years. Redgate and Cacho played Kerrville together in 2005,as did Levine a couple of years later, Levine and Laurens had a duets thing going in Cambridge for a while. Levine played with Cacho at the Finch Coffeehouse. Cacho, who hosted an open mike at the former Plum Island Coffee Roasters during its unfortunately short run at the former J Bucks, now Crave, about four years ago, called on Redgate to play that gig a while ago. And so it goes.

Name of the game

Guitar pull. The term is old school — way old school. It comes from the Depression, when people would sit around, swap stories and songs — and guitars. Not everybody could afford instruments in those lean times. Very cool and colorful, but stripped down. All four musicians will be on the stage together. They will introduce their songs, tell stories about them, where they came from, chatting a little between songs. The idea is to play in the round. They’ll take turns, and play off what the last performer did.

”If they do something slow, you don’t want to follow with the same kind of thing,” said Cacho. “You take your cues from the others. “

“A good song can stand on its own, but it’s interesting to know where the song comes from, what inspired it,” says Levine, who has lined up some credentials – finalist at the 2008 Kerrville Folk Festival’s new folk competition, finalist at the 2005 International Songwriting Competition, and the 2004 Rocky Mountain Folk Fest.

And hers?

She’ll tell the stories at the guitar pull, but don’t expect a clear glimpse into the songwriter’s everyday world. Her songs chronicle the emotional and physical landscapes of the in-between: the haves and have-nots, the loved and the abandoned, the sad but hopeful, providing a kind of cathartic release from writing and getting something back from the audience. According to Levine, writing is a way to keep well balanced. People need a creative outlet. “Besides,” she says, “I can’t not write. I write from emotional truth, but whether the story is true is, well, another story.”

This is the first of three guitar pulls planned for the current year, focusing on local performers. Details remain a little sketchy for upcoming programs, but Redgate, who will lead each of them, says she hopes to build a diverse format — maybe an Americana program, maybe country, maybe the blues.

Redgate’s return

Page 3 of 3 - The Guitar Pull is the first splash from Redgate’s recent return to the scene in a big way. Well, second, actually. The first was her recent performance at South by Southwest, “a great experience, a great time,” playing the legendary Austin, Texas, music festival, whose focus is everything from from electronica to Americana — pretty much anything. Redgate, who often kicks it with a full-out rock band (“It’s alway fun having a rock and roll band behind you,” she says. It’s the best”) played a couple of acoustic sets at the festival.

She’s also getting ready to go back into the studio to record her first album since 2009’s “Nothing Tragic.” There are no firm details, but a couple of things are clear: It will be released on vinyl (“I love the whole record thing,” says Redgate. “I love the sound, I love the artwork, I love the whole tactile experience. It’s gonna be cool”) but maybe including links for digital downloads, and it will be recorded live in studio, the studio being the legendary Stone Church, which will be converted into a ballroom of sorts.

“I’m ready to get back out there,” she says, “to shake the dust off and get back into shape.”

Interested??

Kate Redgate will lead a Guitar Pull at 8 p.m. May 4 at the Firehouse Center for the Performing Arts, 1 Market Square, Newburyport. Joining her will be Susan Levine, Carl Cacho and Rob Laurens. Tickets are $14-20. Call 978-462-7336 or log onto firehouse.org for more information.